Consultancy Services for the Design and Development of the Measurement Framework for ICT Social-Economic Impact Assessment of the Period of 2010-2020

Expression of Interest (EOI)

 CONSULTANCY SERVICES FOR THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE MEASUREMENT FRAMEWORK FOR ICT SOCIAL-ECONOMIC IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE PERIOD OF 2010-2020

1. BACKGROUND

The Ministry of Information Communication Technology and Innovation (MINICT) has a mission of addressing national priorities for economic growth and poverty reduction through the development and coordination of national information technology, communication & Innovation policies and programs as well as citizen’s empowerment. The paragraphs below present a brief overview of the policy framework guiding the industry as well as some high-level results registered by the sector as a whole.

The National Information and Communications Infrastructure (NICI) plans, I~III 2000 – 2015 were initiated to guide the ICT4D programs and initiatives linked to the objectives and goals outlined in Vision 2020. NICI I (2000 – 2005) focused on putting in place the foundational legal and regulatory framework to allow the liberalization of the telecommunication sector and attract private sector investments. During NICI II (2006-2010), the focus was on accelerating infrastructure rollout to connect the people through increased coverage of telecommunication networks, licensing of more operators, and implementation of the National Fiber Optic Backbone. NICI III (2011 – 2015) focused on Services – extending the benefits of increased connectivity to people through the transformation of services to government and citizen and business.

The fourth generation of the NICI Plans, the Smart Rwanda 2020 Master Plan (SRMP), was adopted in October 2015, to be implemented through to 2020. The SRMP was based on three enablers: ICT Capability & Capacity; Governance & Management and Secured & Shared Infrastructure and seven strategic pillars (Health, education, agriculture, finance, business and industry, women in technology and Government). At a national level, the SRMP aimed to serve as a bridging roadmap for leveraging ICT between the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS II 2013 – 2018) and the National Strategy for Transformation (NST I 2018 – 2024). The SRMP’s vision (“Towards a Knowledge-based society) was underpinned by 67 projects in 20 focus areas based on ten core objectives covering all the seven pillars and three enablers.

From the SRMP, efforts of mainstreaming ICT in other sectors also yielded individual sector-led strategies such as ICT in Education, ICT for Agriculture, Digital Payment Strategy, draft Digital Health Strategy, draft Women Empowerment through Technology, ICT for Commerce, and the recent ICT in Governance.

Rwanda’s ICT sector led by the Ministry of ICT and Innovation in collaboration with all its agencies, and public, private, and development partners has registered significant progress and achievements. Active mobile-cellular telephone subscriptions stand at 9,040,327, which implies a mobile penetration rate of 74.8. The number of Internet subscriptions increased from 5,475,448 to 6,234,520 representing an increase of 13.9% between 2017/2018. The nascent private sector player has strengthened with global players such as Carnegie Mellon University, Andela in ICT talent and capacity development as well as Mara Phones in smartphone production, are established in Rwanda. Challenges however still persist. Rwanda’s ICT and Innovation ranks demonstrate mixed results as follows; Global ICT development index (153/175), ICT Adoption Index (111/141), Global Innovation Index (94/130), Network Readiness Index (80/139, and eGovernment index (120/193). 

Some of the key bottlenecks affecting the sector’s growth and utilization include; low electricity penetration high cost of broadband and smart devices, low digital literacy levels, low production of local content in local language affecting usage by citizens, high cost of local hosting, low device and internet penetration. With regards to innovation, Rwanda was ranked as the 5^th best-performing country in Sub Saharan Africa and 94^th worldwide in the 2019 Global Innovation Index (GII). Rwanda outperforms its peers in the innovation input sub-index with a worldwide rank of 65. However, the country’s performance in the innovation output sub-index is much lower, with a rank of 123. Targeted efforts are required to improve the country’s innovation outputs.

It is undeniable that ICT is a critical enabler in the socio-economic transformation of economies. Rwanda in general and the ICT sector in specific are at critical junctures of development. As a nation, this year marks the end of Rwanda’s Vision 2020 implementation and the beginning of Vision 2050 and for the sector, this marks the end of SMART Rwanda Master Plan 1 2015-2020 (SRMP1) implementation and the beginning of SMRP II. It is therefore an opportune time to document not only the achievements registered by the sector but to also investigate the socio-economic impact of ICT initiatives and investments in the past decade.  

1. General Objective of the Consultancy Project

The objective of this assignment is to create a working framework to pave way for the assessment of the impact of ICT in Rwanda. This will be done through the use a list of specifically designated indicators through the use of advanced methodologies to exhaustively analyze and reveal the required variables needed to measure the socio-economic impact of ICT investments and initiatives from the year 2000 – 2010.

During this consultancy, a pilot and sample research analysis of the various reports provided. This will be carried out on the given indicators. The exercise should be purposely designed, to arrive at a conclusion and comparison that clarifies and disaggregates certain needed conditions to assess clearly the socio-economic impact.

The results of this exercise will soon be used to accurately measure the social-economic impact.  The socio-economic impact will be measured at the individual, organizational, and national levels and will include both the positive and negative effects of ICT services in terms of their environmental, social, and economic influences. For individuals, key socioeconomic factors include education, health, personal income, quality of life, the standard of living, social liberty, personal wealth, and occupation. For organizations, key socioeconomic factors include global competitiveness, business opportunities, organizational income, consumer demand, business reputation and brands, business assets, and workforce. Global competitiveness is defined as the ability to successfully confront international corporations in the global marketplace.

1. Specific Objective of The Consultancy Project

This assignment has the following specific objectives:

• In consultation with MINICT, identify relevant indicators to measure for the ICT Social Economic Impact.
• To design and implement a measurement framework to assess the identified indicators, existing ICT programs and initiatives with a view of measuring their impact on the individual, organization and national level using a range of indicators provided by the MINICT;
• To test the designed measurement framework using at least two use cases from the identified indicators.
• To demonstrate/account for the impact of ICT in telecommunication, Transport, Health, Agriculture, Education, justice, Security, Finance – Economy – Business in rural areas as well as urban areas also based on the specifically identified indicators. Also, the disaggregation of the results by gender is key.
• To identify challenges or opportunities to improve ICT effectiveness in future benchmarking from the specific agreed-upon indicators.
• To develop an appropriate measurement framework that the ICT sector led by MINICT and its affiliate agencies can adopt for the monitoring and measuring of the ICT socio-economic impact.
• To transfer knowledge and build the capacity of MINICT staff and other relevant institutions to monitor and measure the socio-economic impact of ICT programs and investments.

1. Expected Deliverables

The Consultants will be expected to produce the following deliverables:

• Inception Report: to be submitted to MINICT within 5 days after the date of contracting, detailing the understanding of the assignment, approach and methodology, activities to be conducted, and roadmap linked to the above outputs plus proposed structure of the final report;
• Draft Project Plan: To be submitted to MINICT within 5 days after the submission of the inception report. This project plan must stipulate the range of chosen indicators and their methodologies to reach the result.
• The Sample exercise: Should then be done to inform of desk research on the available report provided co-related to the indicators ensuring disaggregation and full analysis. All the findings should be documented within 120 days
• Draft Final Report: to be submitted within 5 days (after the date of commencement of the assignment) to MINICT. The Consultant will present the Final Draft Report to concerned stakeholders for review and validation;
• Validation Workshops: Organize, attend, and present the draft findings at a validation workshop. The presentation should highlight the main findings and recommendations of the socio-economic impact assessment: within 10 days
• Final Report: to be submitted within 5 days (after the date of commencement of the assignment) to MINICT, which should include all inputs from stakeholder meetings/ workshops as well as outputs indicated in 3 (above).

All reports should be presented in English and in the following form: 3 spiral-bound hard Copies and soft copies for each, together with a CD ROM containing the full detailed reports to be submitted to MINICT. In addition, the consultant shall provide a consolidated excel report set together with metadata. 

1. Indicative Tasks and Activities

The scope of the assessment will be countrywide done by selecting a representative sample size. The Consultant is expected to carry out the research countrywide at the individual level and collect administrative records or extract the information in the existing research of the surveys carried out in all domains that can inform ICT impact in all sectors. During the review of available reports, the consultant shall ensure the maximum level of disaggregation (rural/urban, male/female, district).

The activities and tasks to achieve the above objective and outputs will include but not be limited to:

• Discuss examples of the effects of ICT development in areas of our daily lives
• Discuss examples of effect of computer development on communication and service delivery
• Review of the current ICT policies and strategies to enhance understanding of ICT impact in all areas;
• Review and analyze relevant ICT sector reports from the NISR and RURA.
• Review the institutional and regulatory capacity, organizational set-up, financial and administrative systems for ICT Content promotion in Rwanda.
• Prepare, moderate stakeholders, meeting(s) to receive input into and validate project drafts;
• Finalize the assessment document and submit to the Ministry of ICT & Innovation – MINICT.

Key results of social impact assessment for ICT programs will be measured by the key performance indicators centered on the following variables:

• ICT Availability: the extent to which citizens can access ICTs (As per the chosen indicators)
• ICT Ownership: the extent to which citizen themselves own ICTs (As per the chosen indicators)
• ICT Use: the extent to which citizens, organizations, and the Government use ICTs (As per the chosen indicators)
• ICT impact: to what extent ICT has brought impact to the lives of citizens, organizations, and the nation at large (As per the chosen indicators)

1. Reporting Mechanisms and Expected Deliverables

The consultant will report to the Permanent Secretary of MINICT and a team of three from MINICT will be assigned to assist the Consultants. The major activities of this team will be to:

• Provide guidance to the consultant and regularly review and provide inputs to the work done.
• Provide additional support and advice to the work beyond the Terms of Reference;
• Facilitate the collection and distribution of all relevant information through document sharing and arranging consultations;

1. Duration of Work and distribution of time

The consultancy input is expected to take an estimated period stated below:

The duration of this assignment is from 19 October 2020 to 30^th November 2020

1. Required Skills and Experience

The Consultant firm hired to conduct the work should have the following qualifications:

• A minimum of 4 years of proven experience in developing and implementing social impact assessments of economic sectors and (or) various sectors;
• Strong understanding of the dynamics of ICT and Innovation demonstrated by experience in conducting studies in that area;
• Demonstrated ability (with successes) of carrying out

Analysis related to socio-economic variables, quantitative and qualitative research;

• To have conducted the successful implementation of at least two similar projects.
• Have good knowledge of the business environment and issues regarding the development of the private sector in Rwanda and in the region.
• Demonstrated experiences in engaging with a wide spectrum of actors i.e. public and private sector actors engaging in economic development and trade;
• Ability to combine sound judgment and influencing skills with high-quality technical knowledge to support the development of a complex programme.

1. Team Leader

The team leader will be a high caliber professional possessing the following portfolio of international experience and qualifications:

• A seasoned professional with at least 10 years of proven experience in leading or conducting studies/ developing strategies related to the development of national strategies;
• At least ten years of combined experience of working with leaders from the public and private sectors to facilitate national economic development.
• Extensive knowledge of and contacts in the technology and innovation global ecosystem
• At least a master’s degree in ICT, Economics, Business Administration, Management, Trade or related field;
• At least 7 years’ experience in managing and conducting research in Economic policy, ICT for development, design as a tool for development and related programs;
• Extensive knowledge and experience of current issues relating to private sector development;
• Demonstrate availability to a wide reach of networks relevant to the assignment.
• Knowledge and experience in the formulation of Monitoring and Evaluation frameworks;
• Knowledge and experience in local and international project design;
• Experience with working with local counterparts including skills and knowledge transfer, coaching and mentoring;
• Fluency in English;
• The consulting firm shall provide the CV of the Team Leader with concrete 
evidence of previous experiences of similar assignments & a copy of degree or certificates.

1. Local ICT Innovation/ICT-Business Convergence Expert

• A local expert with at least 5 years of proven experience in the ICT and Innovation sector in Rwanda;
• Detailed understanding of Rwanda’s ICT and Innovation ecosystem
• At least 5 years carrying out benchmarking ICT in business
• Experience in competitive Intelligence and Market trends
• Experience in ICT Market and Forecasting studies
• ICT Partnerships and End-user Analysis
• Ability to perform all required tasks in English, with experience in the region as an added advantage;
• The local ICT/Innovation expert should hold a master’s degree in ICT or post-graduate degree in IT, Business Administration or equivalent
• The consulting firm shall provide the CV of Local ICT Innovation/ICT-Business Convergence expert with concrete evidence of previous experiences & copy of degree or certificates.

1. Research/Statistics Expert

• A relevant Postgraduate degree in statistical methods and analytics or a related field;
• At least 5 years’ experience in implementing socio-economic impact assessments and/or relevant research designing innovation plans and strategies 
• Experience in project management as lead or main contributor for at least two large scale socio-economic impact assessments
• Fluency in English;
• Experience in Rwanda and/or Eastern Africa will be considered highly advantageous;
• The consulting firm shall provide the CV of the Innovation Expert with concrete evidence of previous experiences of similar assignments & copy of degree or certificates.

1. ICT and Business Convergence Expert

• A relevant bachelors in statistics and economics or a related field;
• At least 5 years’ experience in implementing socio-economic impact assessments and/or relevant research assessment of business and innovation plans and strategies 
• Experience in project management as lead or main contributor for at least two large scale socio-economic impact assessments
• Fluency in English;
• Experience in Rwanda and/or Eastern Africa will be considered highly advantageous;
• The consulting firm shall provide the CV of the Innovation Expert with concrete evidence of previous experiences of similar assignments & copy of degree or certificates.

1. Requirements on the format of the proposal

The structure of your proposal must correspond to the structure of the EoI. The EoI must be legible (font size 11 or larger) and clearly formulated. It is drawn up in English.

The complete EoI shall not exceed 30 pages (excluding CVs and list of items to be procured).

If one of the maximum page lengths is exceeded, the content appearing after the cut-off point will not be included in the assessment.

 EoI & Evaluation criteria

 EoI will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Company profile,
• Relevant experience,
• Company strategies to assure agility, flexibility, and responsiveness,
• Personnel,
• and financial offer

Submission of EoI

The only consulting company are eligible to apply to this assignment, no individuals will be accepted.

The EoI should contain the following:

For Technical Proposal:

• A Cover letter expressing interest in this assignment;
• Technical Proposal with a brief description of why you would be considered as the most suitable for the assignment, relevant expertise, and a detailed clear methodology, on how will be your approach and complete the assignment;
• The CVs shall not exceed 4 pages.
• Company registration certificate (RDB) if available
• VAT registration certificate if available
• Proof of successful completion of related assignments.
• Latest tax clearance certificate

For the Financial Proposal: 

The Financial Proposal indicates the all-inclusive total contract price, supported by a breakdown of all costs. The cost must be in RWF and VAT excluded.

Please submit your EoI documents in two separate envelopes (1 for technical offer and 1 for a financial offer) until the latest Monday 12th October 2020 at 4:00 pm, at the front desk of:

GIZ Office Kigali/Rwanda

KN 41 Street / Nr.17 – Kiyovu

B.P 59 Kigali – Rwanda

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